RIDGE VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 17100 Montebello Rd. Cupertino CA 95014 (408) 867-3233 ridgewine.com PEOPLE Osea Perrone, a doctor from San Francisco, first purchased the Monte Bello Ridge property in 1885 and the first Monte Bello wine was produced in 1892. 70 years later, four friends and Stanford researchers founded Ridge Vineyards bottling their first Zinfandel …
COBB WINES (BOTTLE) 18100 Fitzpatrick Ln. Occidental CA 95465 (707) 874-1962 cobbwines.com PEOPLE Ross Cobb studied Agro Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture at University of California Santa Cruz with an emphasis on living soil, thus paving the way for a lifetime dedicated to maintaining soil health and integrity. Prior to 2016, Ross worked for a number …
RHYS VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 11715 Skyline Blvd. Los Gatos CA 95033 (866) 511-1520 rhysvineyards.com PEOPLE The 2004 harvest was the first vintage released by entrepreneur Kevin Harvey’s Rhys Vineyards (pronounced REESE), one of the bright new stars of California winemaking today. Javier Tapia is the winery’s vineyard manager, Jeff Brinkman its winemaker and manager of …
EISELE VINEYARD (BOTTLE) 2155 Pickett Rd. Calistoga CA 94515 (707) 942-6061 eiselevineyard.com PEOPLE Purchased by the Eisele family in 1969, the property was sold in 1990 to the Araujo family who first implemented sustainable farming practices on the estate. The Pinault family purchased the estate in 2013 and reestablished the original the name to reflect …
LITTORAI (BOTTLE) 788 Gold Ridge Rd. Sebastopol CA 95472 (707) 823-9586 littorai.com PEOPLE Ted and Heidi Lemon founded and own Littorai. Ted serves as winemaker and vineyard manager while Heidi leads the business. VINEYARDS Littorai owns both the Pivot vineyard in Sonoma’s Sebastopol Hills area of the Sonoma Coast, and also the …
ACUMEN (BOTTLE) 1315 1st St. Napa CA 94559 (707) 492-8336 acumenwine.com PEOPLE Garrett Buckland serves as viticulturist for Acumen vineyards. While Henrik Poulsen is lead winemaker. At its inception Steve Matthiasson helped to lead viticulture alongside Buckland Denis Malbec served as founding winemaker until his death in 2016. VINEYARDS Sitting near the top …
FOLDED HILLS (SNAIL) 53 Industrial Way Buellton CA 93427 (805) 694-8086 foldedhills.com There couldn’t be a better estate to represent the marriage of sustainable viticulture and extreme value in the final product. Across the board, the wines from this estate impressed our tasting panel with their focus and approachability. PEOPLE Folded Hills is a …
HIRSCH VINEYARDS (BOTTLE) 45075 Bohan Dillon Rd. Cazadero CA 95421 (707) 847-3001 hirschvineyards.com PEOPLE Hirsch was planted in 1980 on the Sonoma Coast when entrepreneur David Hirsch decided that northern California was getting too crowded. The winery was completed in 2002, the same vintage would become the Hirsch family’s first estate release. Everardo Robledo …